Harpsichordist Denise Restout
Performer and Teaching Assistant to Wanda Landowska
A brief look at the life of the French harpsichordist and writer Denise Restout, companion and teaching assistant to the Polish harpsichordist Wanda Landowska.
Denise Restout began her life in music as a performer and in later years turned to teaching Wanda Landowska's method at the harpsichord and piano in Landowska's home in Lakeville, Connecticut.
Keyboard Study
Denise Restout was born in Paris, France, in 1915, and died at Hartford, Connecticut in 2004. Her teachers were Lazare Levy for piano; Jean and Noel Gallon for harmony and counterpoint; Paul-Marie Chevais for pedagogy (the Sorbonne) and Marguerite Joy for voice. A well-rounded musician, Restout later went to study the keyboard repertoire of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries with the celebrated harpsichordist Wanda Landowka.
Paris Conservatoire
Restout graduated from the Paris Conservatoire and began teaching keyboard, later adding classes of ear training, solfege, harmony and music appreciation. She became Landowska's teaching assistant in 1935 and remained with the great Polish harpsichordist until the latter's death in 1959. In later years Restout carried on the Landowska tradition at the home in Lakeville until her death in 2005.
Each year, on the anniversary of Landowska's death, Denise Restout would have a mass and afternoon get-together for former students and friends at the home of the great harpsichordist. People would stroll the grounds, enjoy refreshments and often play the piano or harpsichord, to the delight of the gathering. It was especially meaningful when Denise would play the harpsichord.
Custodian of Landowska's Legacy
Restout was, indeed, the custodian of Landowska's musical legacy. Students would hear many stories of Landowsk'a life and teaching and were able to study the annotated scores of works of Bach, Handel, Couperin and other great composers. This gave them insight to the musical mind of Wanda Landowska and helped to guide them in the correct interpretation of these masterworks.
The home in Lakeville was open to any musician who asked and Denise Restout always encouraged musicians to visit when in the vicinity.
End of an Era
Teaching and performing went on at the Landowska Center for many years, until the death of Denise Restout in 2005. For the many years after Lansdowska's death Restout had been a faithful disciple of her former teacher. The book, "Landowska on Music," (Stein and Day, NYC) was of major importance in the study of early works, and deserves a place in every musician's library.
Denise Restout taught piano and harpsichord at the Brooklyn School of Music and at the Barlow School, Amenia, New York, and was a member at large of the faculties of the Peabody Institute, Harrt College of Music, Southern University of Mississippi and Purchase College.
At the time of her death, Denise Restout was working on Landowska's biography, which, unfortunately was never completed.
For further information on women in music, please read Polish Mistress of the Harpsichord, Composer Eugenie Rocherolle, and Composer Lorraine Nelson-Wolf.
Source
Exclusive conversations with Denise Restout, 1970-2004.
